The Australian Government recently announced support, through its Aus4Innovation program, for Vietnam to carry out technology innovation research work.
The country will explore how technology is contributing to productivity and economic growth. This Policy Exchange activity will be undertaken in 2020 through a collaboration between CSIRO’s Data61, Australia’s leading digital research organisation, and Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST).
As per a press release, once completed, the AUD 500,000 (US$ 315,305) study will develop a set of economic models to assess the impacts of technology creation and adoption efforts on productivity and GDP growth in Vietnam.
The Australian Ambassador to Vietnam noted that the study is another step to demonstrate how Australia and Vietnam can work together to translate the high-level Innovation Partnership between the two countries into practical and meaningful projects.
She said that Australia is very proud to connect Vietnam with an excellent team from CSIRO’s Data61. Working in partnership with MoST, the team will co-develop powerful models to help the decision-making process more evidence-based, ultimately making investments in science, technology, and innovation deliver better value for money.
The Vice Minister of Science and Technology stated that the department was excited that this is the first time such a study will be conducted in Vietnam. This is an opportunity for them to access new, innovative ways to inform policy development.
MoST is especially appreciative that, once developed, all models will be transferred to Vietnam for future use and replication – this is in the spirit of an Innovation Partnership, the release said.
MoST staff will also be trained through the project to master the methodology and techniques. The aim is to embed the process at MoST to make this collaboration with Australia effective and sustainable.
The study is based on key recommendations from the 2019 report Vietnam’s Future Digital Economy towards 2030 and 2045, which was also funded by the Australian Government and launched in May last year.
The report suggested that an index to measure the economic impact of innovation would help advance Vietnam’s innovation ecosystem and build adaptive capacity to respond to challenges and opportunities, like Industry 4.0.
Working in partnership with Data61 means that lessons learnt from similar studies that have been undertaken in Australia, as well as other developed and developing economies, will be included.
This study is funded by the AUD 11 million (around US$ 6 million), four-year (2018-2022) Aus4Innovation program, Australia’s flagship innovation initiative that was designed to help strengthen the Vietnamese innovation system and prepare for Vietnam’s digital future.
The program is co-funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and InnovationXchange (IXC), managed by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), in strategic collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology of Vietnam.
